Tennis star Stan Wawrinka tells opponent Holger Rune to ‘stop acting like a baby’ at Paris Masters

Stan Wawrinka has been branded an ‘unusually bad loser’ after telling his opponent to ‘stop acting like a baby’ when he was knocked out of the Paris Masters tournament.

The former Australian, French and US Open champion lost his first round match to Holger Rune on Tuesday, telling the 19-year-old: ‘My advice to you is don’t act like a baby on the pitch anymore, okay? ‘ while shaking hands at the net.

Rune looked shocked at the insult after his 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 win, but didn’t strike back as they left the field.

However, the mother and manager of Danish rising star Aneke was a different story.

“It’s hard to imagine a sportsman like Stan would have said that,” she told Danish TV2 after the game.

“Then he would come across as an unusually bad loser. Holger just said he wished him the best of luck with the results of the past few weeks.”

Rune (left) seemed shocked by Wawrinka’s outburst in Paris, but didn’t strike back at the Swiss star. However, his mother Aneke was not in the mood for it

It’s not clear what caused Wawrinka’s outburst as there were no apparent clashes between the pair during the match – but Rune has been criticized for his behavior on the pitch before.

Last year, the ATP investigated him for yelling homophobic statements multiple times when he faced Tomas Martin Etcheverry at the Biella Challenger tournament in Italy.

And in June, Rune said he faced Casper Ruud in the locker room after losing to him in four tough sets in the quarterfinals of the French Open.

Wawrinka was labeled ‘an unusually bad loser’ by the Danish rising star’s mother

Rune (pictured at this week’s Masters in Paris) is no stranger to controversy. He was investigated by the ATP for yelling homophobic statements during a 2021 match

Ruud was unimpressed by Rune’s icy handshake after the game, with the enraged Dane yelling repeatedly at the referee and even appearing to yell at his mother while she was in the players’ section.

Afterwards, Rune claimed that Ruud ‘just came right up to me and yelled ‘YES’ in my face…that’s such bad style, have some respect’.

Ruud’s father called the accusation about the locker room clash “a pure lie” and the Dane later admitted he “needs more emotional control”.

Wawrinka is also no stranger to controversies on the court.

In 2019, he was accused of encouraging the public to abuse Nick Kyrgios during their Mexican Open clash, and it was alleged that the pair had to be separated at the 2015 Canadian Open after the Australian star told the Swiss that Thanasi Kokkinakis ‘fucked your girlfriend’. .